In Delhi Family Deaths, Diary Notes Reveal One Man’s Delusions

Investigations into the mysterious death of 11 of a family in Delhi are now focused on notes found in the house, which point at one man’s hallucinations and delusions of an impending apocalypse.

On Sunday, 77-year-old Narayan Devi, her children and grandchildren were found dead. She was in her bed while 10 others, including two 15-year-old boys, were hanging from a wire grid in the hallway of their home in Burari, north Delhi.

The police say Narayan Devi’s youngest son Lalit Bhatia, 45, drove the “mass suicide” and made the notes “planning” the deaths. He had taken a vow of silence a few years ago but had recently started talking again, about “visits” from his dead father.